Off-Balance
by Kay Willow
Summary: CLAMP Campus Detectives -- A retelling of a history. When Suoh first met Nokoru, it was hardy under peaceful circumstances...


Comments: It's highly strange - unlike the anime/manga, which alternate from Nokoru to Suoh and back again, I stayed consistently with Suoh so a couple of little things might not make sense if you don't know Nokoru's parts.  
  
It's first person, present. I don't know why. It just felt right. It also takes some pieces from the anime and some from the manga and some from my own imagination, so don't expect EVERYTHING to be a reflection of what you saw in one place or the other.  
  
Kisses go to N-sama, for the wonderful 'Magician' and the lovely description of Suoh meditating in Nokoru's hospital room.  
  
  
  
"Off-Balance"   
A Clamp Campus Detectives fanfic   
Kay Willow   
  
  
  
There is a fierce, painful throbbing at the back of my neck as I wake up. This is not unusual, considering my family, but the fact that I am lying on a bed in handcuffs is.   
  
I jump to my feet instantly, taking in my surroundings in the split second it takes me to realize the wrongness of the situation. I am in a cell, empty save for a single narrow cot and a door with bars across the small window. How did I get here? What happened?   
  
Something teases at the edges of my mind; a dim memory of ice candy and exotic blue eyes. It flares into full remembrance - a warm summer day, in a child's park, with the wholly incomprehensible Imonoyama-senpai telling me he's made a check into my past and treating me to his favorite ice candy   
  
/"Quite a hobby for someone wealthy enough to buy all of the ice candy in the world."/   
  
That's right, I can recall it now.   
  
/"Takamura-kun, don't come near me!"/   
  
It seems as if I was a witness...   
  
/"I would like you to come with me."/   
  
/"I'm with someone, so I'd like to refuse... but those would be empty words."/   
  
...to Imonoyama-senpai's kidnapping.   
  
Something ignites within me. How dare those men make a fool out of me? How dare they lay hands on a Takamura? What kind of ninja would allow such an insult to pass?   
  
I realize, startled, that Imonoyama-senpai is far worse off than I am.   
  
"Senpai," I whisper, visions of the bright blond boy in chains dancing across my mind.   
  
Imonoyama-senpai comes first, I remind myself, quelling my pride ruthlessly. I have to find him and get him out of here. I have to.   
  
Sidling up to the door, I peer cautiously out into the hallway. Two guards, both of them relaxed, a staircase to the right and no other rooms. They seem to have forgotten or overlooked how I took down two of their men at the park; foolish of them.   
  
I move and sit back on the cot, coughing as dust rises up from it in a thick cloud. Like a smoke bomb, I muse, filing this information away. I lift my handcuffed hands - obviously, this has to be dealt with first.   
  
My thoughts wander back to Imonoyama-senpai. What have they done with him? This is the only cell here. I have to find him...  
  
I set my mind on track: always remain focused. I reach down and nudge aside the heel of my left shoe, drawing out a lock-pick set from the secret compartment within.   
  
/My mother, after one of my usual rigorous 'training' lessons. I wanted to know why I needed to mangle the CLAMP Campus uniform the way I'd mangled all my others to hide my weapons and tools, when never once had I been called upon to use them. Her pleasant expression slipped as she held out the lock-pick kit./   
  
/"You must always carry your weapons. You never know when you will be in an emergency," she said, her eyes empty and dead. I have rarely seen her eyes like that; she usually takes care to hide behind a genial facade. "Always be prepared for battle, Suoh-san."/   
  
/"For the one that you will meet someday."/   
  
I never expected that I would need them so soon. I have to admit that my mother was correct, although it is irritating that she should be proven right so quickly after I first challenged the notion.   
  
I have been practicing with the lock-pick almost as long as I have been practicing the martial arts; as the scion of a renowned ninja clan, I am expected to know my trade well. Within moments the handcuffs fall to the bedsheets soundlessly, and I stand again thoughtfully, rubbing my wrists.   
  
I could always go for the direct approach - unlock the door, outright attack the watchmen. This was not a good idea, however: they would probably hear me pick the lock and take steps, and I do not intend to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary.   
  
That thought startles me for a moment. Would I kill, if needed? Takamura is a defensive clan, dedicated to using their training to protect and not to kill.   
  
I would. If I hadn't failed Imonoyama-senpai...   
  
The thought of failure rises unpleasant and familiar emotions. Somehow I feel that failure is unbearable, on many different levels.  
  
I won't fail Imonoyama-senpai.   
  
I turn to the bed, eye the settling dust, and wonder. If merely sitting on the bed can stir all that dust... and my supply of smoke bombs is very small, since they're hard to hide on an elementary school uniform, and there's only a limited supply of the fingernail-sized miniatures.   
  
Jumping on the bed seems childish and ridiculous, but a ninja will do anything to accomplish his task. As I had predicted, an enormous cloud of dust immediately rises, and soon the room is full of it. I manage to keep from telltale coughing as I hear the men clamber around outside at the commotion.   
  
After a moment, while the men argue about what to do, the bedframe snaps. I tumble lithely out of the way, grab two fair chunks of wood, and begin scaling the wall using them. Once I have backed myself into a corner, I wait patiently for the guards to enter.   
  
The door opens; they come in without hesitation, babbling about the dust and the boy.   
  
Morons.   
  
I knock them out with two clean blows, then tie them up with the bedsheets and lock the door behind me. As I sprint up the stairs, I relive the scene in the park. My mistake was incredulity at their actions; I hadn't believed they would hurt the child they were about to kidnap, and seeing Imonoyama-senpai collapse had sparked something furious inside of me. I'd rushed forward thoughtlessly, and as I ran had been kneed in the stomach by someone more than twice my size. Then his gun had come down at the base of my neck.   
  
The last thing I saw was their leader lifting Imonoyama-senpai's limp, seemingly lifeless body...   
  
Senpai! I'm coming!   
  
I emerge in a long, elegant hallway. I pause, sinking into a wary stance to evaluate the situation. It is a Western-style mansion, with a brisk and business-like air about it. It seemed rather like a hotel in its "feel", and I am unsurprised to see the men in suits everywhere, although none of them have noticed me yet. They are keeping a rather casual watch; they don't take their jobs as bodyguards seriously, something I find completely unforgivable.   
  
I slip upstairs easily between one patrol and the next, figuring that they wouldn't keep someone as purportedly intelligent as Imonoyama-senpai on the first floor. They have remarkably bad security for people running a kidnapping gig. I'd like to meet the person who organizes those men in black; death is too good for someone this negligent. Just about all of those men need to be fired.   
  
The second floor's outermost wall is one big window; the orange-red of the sunlight stains the walls and floor with blood, and though I'm not superstitious by any means I hope it's not an omen. I can't explain the premonition I am seized by, but I feel as though something momentous is near, and the fiery twilight gives me no reassurances.   
  
I force myself to focus. It will do me no good to be so easily discouraged. The sun glares upon the mansion, but now it is more friend to me; it talks to me and tells me things. West. West of the kiddie park. I can't have been unconscious for more than two hours, as the sun's only just setting. We're still in Tokyo prefecture, then.   
  
I turn a corner, running in complete silence. The idiot guards aren't so clever; I can hear one clattering around to my right. There's a light fixture on the ceiling, and I build up my speed and jump to reach it.   
  
The inattentive man passes under me as I cling, then allow myself to drop down onto his head. He falls to the ground, squawking with surprise. Kneeling on his back, I twitch my wrist.   
  
A throwing knife appears in my hand. The man starts violently away from the weapon at his neck.   
  
"Where is senpai?" I demand.   
  
"Wh... What do you mean?" he stammers.   
  
"You know what I mean," I snarl, leaning forward on his ribs and pressing the throwing knife harder against his neck. "Imonoyama-senpai. You brought him here with me, didn't you? Where is he?"   
  
"I don't... know what you're taking about!"   
  
The man's muscles tense, and I release his shirt and move back cautiously. He breaks free, scrambles to his feet, and runs down the hall, cackling with relief. I stand and continue to wait, quietly drawing out another half-dozen throwing knives in both hands.   
  
When he reached the far wall, they caught up with him.   
  
Eight of the ninja weapons slam into his clothes, pinning him against the wall. The man shrieks fearfully, and I draw out six more, deliberately scraping them together to create that unpleasant metallic shrill. Balancing them carefully between my fingers, I ask again, "Where is senpai?"   
  
"I... I really don't know..." the man whimpers.   
  
With deceptive ease I hurl them all, and they strike exactly where I aimed for. As the five-inch blades sink to their hilts into the wall they make a sickening *crunch* which has the desired effect on my prisoner: finally recognizing the deadly potential of my throwing knives his eyes widen and his breathing speeds. He begins to squirm, seeking to loosen himself, his stylish sunglasses beginning to slip off the end of his nose from his desperate movements.   
  
I draw again, emphasize their rasp again, and ask again: "Where is senpai?"   
  
"I don't know!" howls the operative, struggling frantically.   
  
It does not surprise me that he still denies it; this is according to my expectations. Again, I heave the knives. They smash into the wall with the same terrifying noises, all except one.   
  
The man begins shrieking and flailing, panicked, as he stares helplessly at the throwing knife that had embedded itself into the wall, barely a hair from his nose. His sunglasses had been skewered by the dagger, and the now-shattered pieces plummet to the carpeting like fallen enemies. Now not only does he realize how deadly the ninja weapons can be, but he also knows how deadly the ninja who wields them is. His eyes are only half-sane; I doubt they warned him that the eight-year-old schoolboy they had abducted as an afterthought would be a threat.   
  
"I will only ask one more time," I tell him direly, drawing another four. "Where is senpai?" My hands shift ever-so-slightly on the blades. I do not bluff, and if he attempts to lie to me again I will kill him this time.   
  
He screeches, "Top floor! The boy from the Imonoyama zaibatsu is on the top floor!"   
  
I relax, sheathe the throwing knives. He tells the truth, and now he may live. Perhaps he is not the most effective security guard, but he did not betray his employer at the first threat to his life, which is commendable.   
  
I dart past him, sprinting up the steps, ignoring his cry of protest behind me. I've wasted too much time playing with him already; I need to find Imonoyama-senpai.   
  
I race through the third floor without coming across any more of the men in black. There are dining rooms, bedrooms, and even a servant's quarters. Frustration sets in; how big is this gods-forsaken building, anyway?!   
  
Then, past a particularly Western saloon-style affair, I find myself in a room with three doors and an elevator. I make a dash for the fourth-floor stairs, and gasp briefly as a metal door slams down in front of me, blocking off three of the exits.   
  
The elevator, then. I can still make it to the fourth floor by the elevator.   
  
I consider the situation as I wait for the fourth floor. They've obviously found out about the two guards I left in the cell, and the manor's defenses would now be activated. I was safe here - the elevators would be left functioning so the kidnapper's own men could reach him the quicker, and what sort of idiot attempts to escape a mansion by taking an elevator to the top floor, anyway?   
  
But they're going to be waiting for me.   
  
I sigh, resigning myself to my mother's lecture about how my weapons are for my ONE, the one that I will meet someday, and withdraw one of my precious few smoke bombs from inside one of the brass buttons on the shoulders of my uniform. I hold the tiny device carefully, wondering if my mother will hate me more for my failure to conserve my weapons or for revealing my abilities for someone who isn't under my protection.   
  
It doesn't matter, I concede. If Imonoyama-senpai hadn't been trying to make friends with me or talk to me or WHATEVER it was he was trying to do with me he wouldn't be in this mess anyway. It's my responsibility to bring him out of here alive.   
  
I toss the smoke bomb to the ground as the elevator makes a helpful chiming sound to warn me that the doors are about to open. The opaque cloud billows out into the hall, engulfing five black-suited men. They began hacking and coughing as the insidious stuff began burning their throats, some of them collapsing in my wake.   
  
The stinging smoke is my mother's innovation, and I have grown accustomed to it. I am not bothered by the fumes, although I breathe through a handkerchief just in case. Now is not the time to discover that I still have a weakness to it.   
  
Suddenly, a pair of double doors rear up in my vision. I can feel one thing for certain, a warm conviction that pervades my heart. I know that Imonoyama-senpai is inside this room. Without hesitation, I kick the doors open.   
  
The smoke follows me into the room, but thankfully is diluted enough now that their noxious vapors will cause Imonoyama-senpai no aggravation. I ran forward, seeing him only vaguely through the smog. "Senpai!" I call out.   
  
"T... Takamura?" comes the startled alto voice.   
  
And there he is, seemingly perfectly safe and completely unharmed; his uniform is even cleaner than mine. His blond hair is not matted or dirty, and his strange blue eyes are not sorrowful or battered. He appears, as a matter of fact, to be happy.   
  
It's as if the world had been in black-and-white; suddenly, now, there is a brilliant in-flux of color. Emotion and feeling return, abandoning the cold analytical part of me that had dominated until this moment. Everything has come into focus for me now, and those things that had so irritated me before were gone. Finally, my purpose complete.   
  
There is a woman beyond him, in a blue dress. I pay her no heed, although I have no doubt that she is the one behind his abduction - I am sure now that there has never been any great danger, and the only reason he was not as successful in escaping as I is because his host is a woman, and as the rumors say he would never spurn a lady.   
  
"Senpai! Are you hurt?" I ask anxiously, coming to a halt in front of him.   
  
"I'm fine, Takamura. But how did..."   
  
"I defeated the watchmen."   
  
His eyes widen in surprise. "Defeated...? And... you came here?"   
  
Ah, that's right. What to tell him about that? I can't explain why I went through all that to find him because I don't know, myself. What can I possibly say that he will understand?   
  
I lower my head uncertainly, fumbling for an idea. "I wanted to say thank you," I tell him after a moment.   
  
"'Thank you'?" he repeats, as if he doesn't recognize the words. "What..."   
  
"Never mind that," I dismiss impatiently. The woman in blue is moving slowly for the intercom, and I don't want to have to fight my way back to the first floor. "Let's go!" I grab his arm and pull him towards the door.   
  
I only succeed in moving him two steps before he tries to wrench his arm from my grasp. "Wait a moment!" I turn back to face him, annoyed. His eyes are earnest as he explains, "We're going up against pros. Even if you have dans in judo and karate--"   
  
I nearly flush in embarrassment. Is that what he thinks of me? That I can't take care of myself? "I was caught off-guard back in the park!" I say furiously. I'm not angry with him, just at myself for allowing such a slip in front of him, and at them for having gotten away with it. "I will not make such a fool of myself now!"   
  
He still won't move. I tug on his hand, and he stumbles forward another step. "Let's go!" I repeat.   
  
After an off-balance moment, he sets his full weight against me. He is slightly taller than I, and I am stronger than he, but there is more to it than that. It is an equal match, but it is his determination which decides the victory; in spite of myself I turn back to look at him. I can't read his expression as he insists, "You have nothing to do with this, it's me that they want. I'll just talk to them, explain the situation--"   
  
I begin to feel the frustration again, and again it isn't because I am exasperated with him, but because I can not understand anything he does or says. "You've been KIDNAPPED!" I remind him emphatically. "They're not going to listen to your explanations!"   
  
"WAIT!" he commands.   
  
And somehow, inexplicably, I obey. All my impatience and determination vanish, and I can only stare at him, bewildered.   
  
The world slows in my eyes. Abruptly I lose complete awareness of my surroundings. The woman is gone, the house is gone, the danger is gone; there's only the red of sunset, and all the malevolence that I sensed in it before is gone as well. Now it seems soothing, relaxing. I don't trust any of it, and remain wary in spite of everything around me.   
  
"I don't want you to get hurt," Imonoyama Nokoru says, his voice gentle, as if he thinks I might run from him.   
  
"Senpai..." I whisper, and something significant tips over inside me.   
  
Without warning, an alarm begins to blare discordantly. "HEY!" bellows the woman into the PA. "Somebody get up here! NOW!"   
  
The universe stabilizes again and I release his arm, both of us tensing. I shift slightly to stand between him and the door, and in one smooth motion I hold again a fistful of throwing knives.   
  
His clear blue eyes watch me, struggling with something. "You are..."   
  
"I never got to thank you, senpai," I tell him, anticipating the arrival of the woman's calvary. "The ice candy at the park *was* delicious."   
  
I begin to hear footsteps and prepare to aim when, out of nowhere, he jumps and hits himself on the forehead. "Oh, I get it! You're TAKAMURA SUOH!"   
  
This is not something I was prepared to deal with. I blink at him, utterly clueless. Where did this come from? He already knew my name.   
  
He watches me back, smiling confidently. Confidence in himself, confidence in his future... and confidence in me.   
  
He... trusts me. And when have I given him reason to, in the day that I've known him?   
  
Slowly, I smile back. My eyes soften; I can't imagine what manner of fool expression I'm wearing now. What kind of a ninja am I?   
  
There's something hopeful in his face as we stare at each other for a long moment.   
  
Then he drops to the floor on his stomach and begins crawling around.   
  
My brain stops for an instant and I just stare at him, lying there, and have not the vaguest clue what he's doing. I watch him blankly until the sounds of the black-suited men bring me back to myself.   
  
"S... senpai..." I begin hesitantly.   
  
He puts a finger to his lips to signal that I should be quiet and continues to drag himself across the marble floor. "I'll try to find it quickly," he offers with an almost shy smile, and his eyes twinkle.   
  
"F... find?" I must sound like an idiot.   
  
"Until then..." He pulls his body forward another few inches, presses the side of his head against the floor, and looks up at me. I can not read his expression, which is rapidly becoming a familiar thing for me, but this time I'm not frustrated about it at all. "...keep them away. And later..." He smiles, more self-assured. "...maybe we can have that ice candy again."   
  
"I will!" I nod decisively. I can do this much for you, Imonoyama-senpai, even if I have no clue what you hope to gain from this.  
  
"Imonoyama-san's friend has intruded," the woman said angrily to the dozen or so men who had answered her call. "I still haven't heard his answer! Make the little kouhai wait in another room until I get it!"   
  
I toss the knives in my hands, then another set. By now I've run out; I can feel that the wide belt I wear under my school uniform is almost empty. Not enough left to do anything more than annoy these men, as more would only come to free them. Time, then, to begin the real fighting.   
  
I charge recklessly into their midst, ducking under the outstretched arms of first one and then another before flipping one man onto his back and jabbing the one nearest him sharply in the throat. As he falls, choking, I run back to the front and trip the leading few; kicking one hard enough to break a bone.   
  
The woman's horrified demands to identify my brand of martial arts draws a quick smile. I use no pure brand in true combat; she'll learn that soon enough if her men are observant. She doesn't seem to be.   
  
"He... he can't be human," says one of the men in awe. I don't appreciate that, as it insults the Takamura clan; I dart behind him and slam the flat of my hand against his ribcage in a spot I know is usually weakest. A choked cry confirms at least one broken rib, and I spin nimbly, introducing the man behind him to my CLAMP Campus standard-admission shoes.   
  
I can feel him watching me, and it pleases me to know that this time, at least, I will uphold my family's honor. His attention is drawn away, and I see him sit up.   
  
I duck the last man's punch, fling myself backwards, and seize his arm. I use it to propel my flight, twist and land with my legs around the limb, and then relax as I feel the bones snap.   
  
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he says politely, startling me a little. He is smiling with satisfaction, obviously pleased with himself. "I've finally found it!"   
  
"Eh?" I can only respond, detaching myself from the black-suited man and standing.   
  
"I had underestimated your kouhai-kun, thinking him a child," muses the woman to herself. She turns to face us, grinning. "But this time he won't be good enough, I'm afraid. The men coming up now are all professional fighters. And against thirty of them?" Her voice turns cold. "Give up, Imonoyama-san."   
  
"I'm afraid I can't do that," he says pleasantly. "I think it's in my blood, not to give up. Besides..." He moves forwards, catches my arm and rests his chin on my shoulder. "I have a powerful ally."  
  
If my mother had been here, I think she would have laughed.   
  
I'm blushing, I can feel it. There's something that feels *right* like this, and I've never felt this way before. It's as if the entire universe has been working towards this, and only now can I see it.   
  
"Takamura?" he murmurs in my ear. "Are you okay with dark places?"   
  
"Y... yes," I answer, unable to come to terms with myself anymore. What's wrong with me today?   
  
"Good. Then let's go!" He takes my arm and pulls me - away from the door.   
  
"Where do you think you're going?" the woman demands. "This is the only exit." Behind her file in her new units; obviously these are combat-trained. "How do you think you're going to get away?"   
  
"Like this!" he says gleefully. He stomps a foot sharply on the floor.   
  
And it opens up underneath him.   
  
I gasp, surprised for what feels like the hundredth time today as an elevator which has been /built into the floor/ descends into the ground and seals behind us. He has his arms crossed smugly, clearly having a great time. He probably thinks this is a field day!   
  
If we get out of here and you tell me how fun this is and how we ought to do it again sometime, Imonoyama-senpai, I swear I'll kill you.   
  
The hidden elevator comes to a rest in the basement, and I can hear the alarms activate.   
  
"We'd better hurry," he warns me. "If those metal doors come down, we'll probably wind up getting into trouble."   
  
I don't tell him that I think we're already hip-deep in trouble, because he doesn't seem to believe it.   
  
As we sprint down the halls, I ask him curiously, "How did you know about the elevator?"   
  
"Sound!"   
  
"Sound?" I echo.   
  
"I heard motor sounds coming from beneath the floor. There's usually secret passages in houses like this, so that sort of thing is very suspicious," he informs me cheerfully.   
  
I am absolutely dumbfounded, for perhaps the third time in my entire life - all of them today. He had been kidnapped, was surrounded by hostile people, and had a pitched battle going on around him - and still, he manages to come up with the realization that something so abstract as the faint noise of gears means a hidden exit?   
  
He... he's...   
  
A metal door begins to descend behind us. At the same time, as we ricochet off another and down a new corridor, one lowers itself in front of us.   
  
That's the only way out!   
  
"Senpai, look out!" I grab his hand and put on an extra burst of speed, then throw myself under the panel. I manage to twist and cushion his fall; he was going to hit the ground shoulder-first at bone-breaking speed. He looks up at me, startled, and then his eyes widen.  
  
"The exit..."   
  
We find ourselves on the roof of this four-story manor house. An exceptionally tall four-story manor house. There is no trellis to climb down or gutters to scale. We are standing on top of the mansion with no way down.   
  
"What kind of an escape route is this?" he asks rhetorically, and I have to agree with him. Then he goes on, "It looks like it gets good enough sunlight, but it's no good for hanging up laundry."   
  
I blink, then shrug it off. "We'll have to go back," I tell him apologetically.   
  
"Not so," he says proudly, reaching into his pocket. I watch anxiously as he searches for something, wondering what kind of miracle he'll produce now to save us.   
  
His expression lights up. "Ta-da!" he cries triumphantly, and the fanfare audible as he whips out--   
  
--a stuffed penguin.   
  
I nearly fell over. "WHAT?" I demand. "How's that going to help?"   
  
He only tugs its bowtie in answer, beaming playfully.   
  
I shake my head. I can't make heads or tails of this boy. Whenever I think he's joking he's serious, and whenever I think he's being cunning he stalls. What IS he thinking of?   
  
"YOU!"   
  
We spin around to face our kidnapper. She ignores me, hissing at him malevolently, "I won't let you go! I've captured you and now I won't let you go!"   
  
He smiles sweetly at her. "About that offer? I think I'll have to decline."   
  
"I thought you said you understood," she says through clenched teeth. One of her combat-professionals joined her on the roof.   
  
He waggles a finger at her in gentle rebuke. "I said I understood, not that I would." Another saintly smile. "Japanese is difficult, isn't it?"   
  
She snarls soundlessly at him, then shouts, "In that case, I will see your kouhai-kun suffer! AS I PROMISED!" Snatching the gun from the hands of the guard, she aims and fires.   
  
I only have time to blink in surprise as the bullet zooms through the air. It wouldn't do too much damage, I console myself in the nanoseconds I had to realize I'd been made a fool of again...   
  
The bullet never hit me.   
  
"SENPAI!"   
  
He collapses backwards; only a minor wound but enough to knock him off his feet. I support him as he slides to the ground, cradling his body carefully.   
  
"SENPAI!"   
  
Luminous, only slightly pain-dimmed eyes open again. Imonoyama Nokoru smiles at me shakily. "I'm sorry," he says without a waver.   
  
And I know. Just like that, I know.   
  
"Senpai..." I whisper, a first - and last - wondering question of the world I've suddenly found myself immersed in.   
  
He doesn't need to anymore, but he continues, "I should never have bothered you. I didn't mean to put you in danger."   
  
The woman regains control of herself, though she is clearly still furious. "You shouldn't have gotten in the way," she rebukes coolly as I stare in horror at the blood trickling down his arm, only now quite realizing the ramifications of this new change. "But it seems that it's true. The reason you don't make friends, the reason you're always alone, is because you don't want those around you to get hurt because of you.   
  
"Very commendable," she adds. "Very smooth."   
  
"No," he denies, sitting up slowly. A fierce wind begins to blow, and it only takes a moment to identify it as unnatural. He turns and gives her the same faltering smile. "I'm just thoughtless."   
  
An enormous balloon, at least the size of the mansion, appears over the roof's peak, with a long rope ladder dangling down. It is shaped like a penguin.   
  
I stare at the nearly-forgotten stuffed animal. And the beeping radar on its bow tie.   
  
The woman and her comrade are gaping at it uncontrollably, but of course HE is taking it completely in stride. It's his, after all.   
  
"A bit slower than it ought to be," he ponders aloud. "I suppose we'll have to go back to the normal design after all." He smiles at me as I move to pull out my handkerchief. "It may seem kind of silly, but there's plenty of room for two passengers."   
  
I begin to shred the cloth, then tie it in a make-shift bandage around the bullet wound. He watches me curiously. "Takamura?"   
  
"Please hold on tightly," I advise him. I swing him up over my shoulder, ignoring his squawk of surprise, and run for the edge of the roof.   
  
"Wha... GET BACK HERE!" screams the woman who kidnapped us.   
  
I leap off, and catch the ladder easily. It sways unevenly in the rival forces of gravity and wind as he scrambles off my back and up onto the balloon. Once he's secure I turn and throw all my remaining throwing knives at her and her man. "Stay there until the police find you," I shout back at them. They struggle, but my aim was too good; they won't be leaving for at least a little while.   
  
Evening settles over Tokyo as the balloon slowly heads for the Imonoyama mansion, and he fills the ride's inevitable silence with chatter about the balloon and its construction and the idea behind it and the companies that contributed and the adjustments he'll have to make and the merits of this design versus a normal blimp and hundreds of other miniscule details.   
  
I can't help but feel as I told my mother yesterday; that he and I come from worlds too far apart to ever truly mesh, no matter what the elders say of a Takamura's bond. But I also can't help the knowledge that it HAS happened this way. It's just how things are.   
  
My mother told me that when I met "that someone" I would begin to feel it without even noticing. I hadn't believed her, had staunchly insisted that I would surely recognize when a person suddenly became the center of my entire world, the reason for my entire existence. She had only smiled, and allowed me to believe that, which is rare with her.   
  
I turn my face to the stars, watching them as though for the first time. How had I never realized that even from this distance the differences between a red star and a yellow star are obvious? How had I never seen the constellations among them before?   
  
Perhaps, in spite of our blatant incompatibility, this won't turn out so bad.   
  
"I'm sorry, Takamura-kun," he says suddenly. "I'm the one who got you into all this trouble. I promise not to try and get close to you again."   
  
"No," I answer him simply. "I will be by your side."   
  
I've astounded him, I can tell. Blue eyes focus on me, the blue of the Caribbean waters or the blue of a masterfully-cut sapphire or the blue of the heavens around us. "What?"   
  
It is good that I can surprise him. Someday I may even manage to shock him as he has already shocked me, four or even five times just at the end of today.   
  
My own golden eyes return to studying the starscape, content and at peace. The world is stable and orderly, no longer the chaotic and flawed place it was before today. Is this the difference such a bond makes to a Takamura?   
  
"You seem to be the someone that I would meet one day," I tell him softly. "So I will protect you."   
  
Our eyes meet, and all is right with the world.   
  
"Always."   
  
And Imonoyama Nokoru smiles. For me.   
  
------  
  
This was just such a powerful scene - ah, for me, anyway - that I couldn't help myself. Okay, so it wasn't a scene, it was two episodes. Nonetheless! This struck me as so well-crafted that I just HAD to write it in a short-fic. Of course, after fourteen pages, it really isn't that short...   
  
Alright! I'm screwed up! When have you ever heard me deny it?   
  
Kay   
kay_willow@hotmail.com   
  
DISCLAIMER: All these characters - um, Nokoru, Suoh, and "Casablanca" - belong to CLAMP. I've only recruited their services for a while. I bet they didn't know when they signed up with CLAMP that the subsidiary acting clause meant they'd have to work for FANFIC WRITERS! Poor boys. And her, too. CLAMP Campus Detectives is the licensed property of CLAMP, as you can see because it has their name on it! See?  
  
Nobody hurt me, for whatever reasons. (I don't know any of you people! You're all scary strangers!) This isn't yaoi (unless you look at it with JUST the right angle) and it's not even original (as you may have noticed). Tell me what you thought!  
  



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